Marek Phillip Parker and The Screening Room Reading Series

​The Screening Room is one of the first places at which I read. From the start I could tell it was a friendly, welcoming place for those just starting out in poetry or sharing their work with the public for the first time. I asked Marek Phillip Parker, one of the current hosts (the other is Lynn Ciesielski) a little about the series. 

Fred: What year did the series start and who was hosting it at the time?
 
Marek: I’m really not the best historian for the Screening Room Series, but as it has been shared to me, it was started shortly after the business opened about 21 years ago.  The original host for most of its life was Rosemary Koethe. She hosted till her death.  I would guess that that was for about 12 years or so.  I don’t have the actual years and dates.  At some point Verneice Turner shared or took over the hosting responsibilities, eventually to be joined by Marge Merrill.  It seems that there were various co-hosts who would step in throughout the years.  About seven years ago they invited me to share the hosting duties with the two of them.  After a year, Verneice bowed out and it was just myself and Marge. About five years ago it became just me.  I searched for a co-host, I even had a few people who accepted the invite, but then decided it wasn’t what they were looking for.  We hit a real rough patch four years ago when I had my heart attack and bypass surgery.  A few people stepped in while I recovered.  I don’t really remember who all, as much of that time was a blur. Two years ago I invited Lynn Ciesielski to co-host with me and we have been alternating months since then. 
 
F: Not a bad group of Buffalo writers to have helping with the hosting duties. What day of the month are the readings held?

M: The readings are held the third Wednesday of every month from 7:30 PM till 9:30 or 10 PM.  The cost is still just $2.
 
F: How can people find out about the readings?

M: We post events, monthly on Facebook, Lynn sends out an email reminder which includes Bob Pohl, who places it in The Buffalo News. The series also has great word of mouth.  Featured readers are also urged to share the event and promote some on their own.  

F: How did you get involved and how do you go about choosing your featured poets?
​
M: Choosing poets is pretty random, in that there is no specific criteria.  We pick people we know, have heard of, are regulars at The Screening Room, newbies with a growing voice. Fortunately, Lynn and I have different spheres of influence, we bring different readers and styles to the table.  When I can, I try to mix it up, a younger, or sometimes spoken word poet with a more seasoned voice. I find that the Buffalo poetry community is very fractured by race, genre and age. I want Tom Dreitlein, a really strong, younger spoken word poet to hear and be heard by a seasoned reader, writer like Gary Earl Ross. Don’t get me wrong here, Tom is a seasoned reader and writer in his own right, but there is a generational gap in Buffalo. I think a lot of our poets don’t see the relevance of different styles of poetry or different aged voices on their artistry. It comes from both sides, there is respect between the ages but a reluctance to find commonality in their unique voices.  For me, listening to a Loren Keller, Joyce, Kessell, Celeste Lawson or Bianca McGraw, Brandon Williamson or Ben Brindise all teach me something about myself and the art of poetry.  

Marek: I try to mix it up, a younger, or sometimes spoken word poet
​with a more seasoned voice.

F: If you had a mission or a particular wish for the poetry/literary scene in Buffalo, what would that be?

M: I would love to see Urban Epiphany return to the Buffalo scene.  It’s an event reading and one that brings so many voices and styles together on the same day. Silo City is an attempt at this, but I feel you lose the focus when you have different poets reading at the same time, just 30 feet from each other.  I’d rather hear/see us all together for the whole day. I love what Just Buffalo does with these events, but I still miss Urban Epiphany.
 
My other mission would be to see the community become more diverse in issues of ethnicity and age at the individual readings.
 
F: How important is poetry to you and how important to the community?

M: How important is breathing?  Poetry is life, like any other art form.  It educates, informs, and entertains us.  It tells us about our neighbors and ourselves! Sorry to sound so cliché, but I really do feel this to be true!
 
F: Who are the owners of the venue and how was/is their support for poetry local or otherwise? Do they do things for other kinds of art/artists?

M: The owner is Bob Golibersuch. He has been very supportive for the past 21 or so years.  He is very understanding and supportive.  I don’t think that they get enough recognition for what they do for the poetry and larger community. For a long time, there was also a Sunday series hosted by Bill Koethe (Rosemary’s husband.) I know that they have donated their space for socially minded groups.
 
F: What got you interested in poetry and who are your biggest influences?

​M: I became interested in poetry as a means to express myself and deal with issues of life.  There are many small influences, as a young kid it was Ogden Nash and Dr. Seuss, which is a very magical and poetic writing. A style I have struggled to develop is my written voice. As for a mentor, I would have to say Jimmie Gilliam was a huge influence on my developing my voice and rhythm. She was my instructor at the ECC City campus and had a huge impact on me as a writer and as a person.  There are many poets/writers that I’ve admired. Some of them in the music world, Patti Smith, Sting, Suzanne Vega, to name a few. Essex Hemphill and Marlon Riggs informed much of my writing on self and sexuality. There are many local writers who I strive to be as good as.  I won’t single anyone out because many different writers have impacted me. I feel that, to name a few, would be to exclude many. 

Marek: How important is breathing?  Poetry is life.

,F: Do you think there is enough support for younger poets in town?

M: I think that between the colleges, which have seen an explosion of traditional and spoken word, and the many different venues that we have, there is a great deal of support for young and older poets as well.  You just need to reach out and there is a wonderful, supportive community out there.
 
F: I know you have supported many causes on the national level, could you say a little about your involvement locally with movements supporting LGBTQ, environmental and peace organizations.

M: Currently I work in homeless outreach at Lake Shore Behavioral Health. Through them, I have started and became chair of the LGBTQ Committee on Homelessness.  We have developed training for agencies working with LGBTQ people, addressing issues of inclusiveness. (If anyone is interested in training contact me at 716-881-7230.) The committee hopes to pull together all of the pieces to start a short term housing facility for LGBTQ homeless.
 
I have been involved in a number of social justice issues, sometimes deeply, sometimes very much on the edges.  I work most specifically by how I live my life.  I am greatly flawed and work hard to grow and change.  I hope I show patience with others I encounter and work with.
I think social justice will always have to be something that we work for.  It will never just be given to us. From civil rights to marriage, these are things that we have to demand. 
 
 In regards to the LGBTQ community, I have become much more active and am working to coordinate a Queer Themed day through Buffalo Infringement. 

​F: I hear the venue is moving. Do you know to where and when?

M: At this time, we do not have a firm date or place.  All of that is in the works, but The Screening Room is waiting for it to go through all of the lawyers, etc, which will be needed to make sure all of the t’s are dotted and I’s crossed. (Yep, that was on purpose!)
 
F: And how will it impact the series?

M: Its impact will hopefully be that it will become even bigger and better than it currently is and that The Screening Room will be around for a long time to come.

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​If you get the chance attend a reading this series offers. In the meantime, enjoy a few poems by its co-host Marek Phillip Parker.

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Poems by Marek Phillip Parker

​Magpie
 
Grief stirs over lost memories,
Piled high
trinkets
baubles,
and yes
Even Beads
Hand written goodbyes
Keys of scratched ebony and ivory
            a disabled peddle
Books
With photos
Deeply ensconced 
With hope of reclamation
Some distant tomorrow
sifting through
            Yesterday’s footsteps
            With an eviction notice in hand
I’m mourning memories
Having filled every nook and cranny
Every crevice, every corner
Piles of possession
Masquerading as
Mementos
strangle me
Cutting off both
breath and circulation
As termination nears
            I create
Piles of distinction
justifying each items placement
            Then lamenting that decision
In grief I have become a hoarder
            Not a collector
                        Not an accumulator   
But a magpie
            Satiation is measured
Through tally
Having confused
            Quantity with quality
My remembrances
all sparkle
Each
            My precious
Returning to task at hand
Diligence of my work
masking anger
And loss
Denial has its place
Only after the final box is taped
Reframing
attention
My spirit is burdened
With emotional
            Edits of life’s
Assemblage
I raise arms
In exasperation
            Releasing
50 years of memories
 
-----------------------------
 
Held for Too Long
 
 
Sometimes it’s all right to want to kill the messenger
 
your sister called me that Monday morning,
            some twenty years ago
gossip on her tongue
 
It was her voice 
a few years before
which first whispered word of Gabe’s illness in my ear
 
I was less prepared for that Monday’s call
 
“Gabe died today……..
Wasn’t he a friend of yours?”
She both announced and asked
            All at once
 
I wanted to scream at her
But all that came out
was a breath of which I had
held for too long
 
            Hearing
but unable to listen
I waited for a pause
saying goodbye
before she continued
 
Hours later you called
            a declaration of contrition
                        seeking to right your sisters faux pas
and explain your own
 
you stated
It was your call
meant for three days earlier
that I should have received
 
Gabe had been asking to see me
But your preoccupations
            a boy friend
                        a weekend visit out of town
left that message undelivered
 
With all of this acknowledged
you then asked
 
            if I was all right
 
I never found the words
That could conceal my anger
so I never answered you
 
I knew that my thoughts
steeped in honesty
would be poison for both of us
 
As I dwell on lost goodbyes
I am reminded of the meeting
which would serve as our valediction
Gabe and I had a chance reunion
in the Buff State quad
            It was just months before his passing
 
thin and gaunt
His face wore the ravages of death
His arms
burdened by books
for courses he would never complete
our conversation
Was filled with hollow promises of
            Drinks to be poured
            laughs to be shared
 
Both of us then knowing that
Hallwalls’ Artists and Models Ball would now
 forever pass
without our attendance
 
So I sit here
some twenty years later
My anger
just a quiet din of regret
and I can finally tell you
 
 
I wasn’t all right
 
 
Published November/December 2009 Cherry Bleeds
 
-----------------------------------
 
Listening
 
Turn down that fucking music
Angry loud
Pounding thumping
Assaulting my space
Pushing aside voices of reason
Voices of voices of voices of
yesterday
not sure if I want to drown them out
or invite them back to nestle
into my jumbled cranium
you ask if I hear them
knowing that we both do
knowing that you control them
knowing their origin
power
is held by those that can distract
your objective
incessant chatter
not sure if it is inside or out
it starts as a murmur
and builds to an uncontrolled
crescendo
your whispers
lustful
wanton
desirous of my soul
exploitive of my libido
Your words vibrate
Like an engine revving
Pressing upon the gas
Peddle
My spirit shakes
Convulses
ears begin to bleed
Bright lights hurting
my eyes
body slams upon
pavement
Your drumming bass
Pummels my bones
My tight skin your snare
Demanding silence
I scream
Your rhythmic beat
Explodes into a wall of sound
Wall of fury
Still I listen
Deciphering meaning
Finding the messages
Truths
to
To
To and fro
Back and forth
I collapse
Again
Without having risen
Bruised knuckles
And jaw
Expose earlier wounds
With mirrored results
But still
They speak
And I find
That there is no external music
The voices
Have brought
Accompaniment
And
My bloodied face
Saturated with salty tears
Weeps in defeat
My soul
sky swallowed